Zesta Masala Tea

Mustafa Centre is a multi level shopping store, open 24 hours and is found right here in Singapore. Highly recommended for the very wide range of goods from India and around the world, Mustafa is a highly recommended shopping stop for all locals and tourists. International travel sites like Frommers and Lonely Planet gave good reviews on this mammoth department store.

Located along Serangoon Road/Syed Alwi Road junction and within walking distance of the Farrer MRT stop (subway), Mustafa prides itself especially with hard to find goods and reasonable pricing.

I decided to pop into Mustafa one afternoon. I was really impressed with the wide range of goods. In particular, the dried herbs and spices section was so comprehensive (impressive as well) that walking though the aisles was a mind boggling experience. As Mustafa is a huge store, I can understand why certain products are repeated and found in many parts of the store. Let me explain, there are a few similar toiletries sections that are found within Mustafa. This would make it convenient for me to locate this section and I do not need to walk back or try to recollect which floor or corner the toiletries section was.

I had also bought some tea from Mustafa. I had purchased 'Zesta' brand of tea. From Sri Lanka, this tea carry the famed Ceylon tea and the tea I had purchased, had spicy herbs added to the tea. Masala tea is a very popular tea that is drunk in India and in this part of the world. Black tea is brewed and spices like cinnamon, cardamon, ginger, fennel and cloves are added (minute amounts of course) to the tea. The tea becomes mildly spicy and makes a very nice beverage. Sometimes sweetened milk is added to the masala tea to make this tea into a more flavorful beverage.

This reminded me of the Mongolians that drink their pu erh tea with milk and spices. (see Ethnic Minority tea blog) It is somewhat similar to making Masala tea.

With a quick dunking of my Masala tea bag in my cup for 1-2 minutes,  I would enjoy the spicy dimension of this tea. I prefer to drink this tea hot and without sugar, though a chilled sweeten version would be nice if one has visitors on a hot day. An inexpensive tea and I recommend you try a masala tea if you can. Yes, I had also purchased  a coconut and pineapple tea from Zesta as well. This tea give off a nice sweeten scent almost like cotton candy. It's one of my daughter's favorite tea right now.

But I digress. I have a few tea drinking friends who are always lurking in the tea section forum of Badger and Blade. It's primarily a shaving forum but has a few members there who drink Chinese tea. Well......yes guys, I bought the Old Spice aftershave. Remember the slogan? - "If your grandfather hadn't worn it, you wouldn't exist."  Mustafa also carry some older popular brands like 4711, English Leather, Tabac and Brut.  I  was literally grinning when I saw these products at Mustafa.  For my readers who do not recognize
these brands .........Gee, I must be an antique.